Culinary Travel: Food Souvenirs

ByRich Rubin

I love food. This is a well-known fact. So it will come as no great surprise to hear that when I travel, the majority of the souvenirs I buy are of the culinary variety. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of going into the kitchen to prepare a meal and finding my shelves jam-packed with spices, condiments, and other goodies I’ve bought while traveling. Nothing brings back the feeling of the trip quite like the taste of the place.

What I look for are the little things, the things that will fit easily in a suitcase (or better yet, a carry-on bag) and will immediately make me think of the place where I bought them. In fact, one of my favorite things to do while traveling is to stop in the local grocery store (this is more exotic when overseas), where I’ll often find the exact same products that are being sold in the souvenir shops at half the price. Besides, it’s a great way to discover all kinds of things about the local culture. I also love outdoor and covered markets, where I’ll often find an interesting spice or tea among the produce, meats, and cheeses. Sometimes, though, I’ll find my favorite culinary souvenir when I least expect it, or when I’m not even looking for it.

Imagine me strolling down the street in Frankfurt, Germany. Here I am just across the bridge from the downtown skyscrapers, wondering which of the several nearby museums I should visit, when the words beckon me from half a block away: Frankfurter Senfgalerie (Frankfurt Mustard Gallery, Schweizer Strasse 18, Frankfurt, Germany. Tel: 011-49-69-3660-4435. www.frankfurter-senfgalerie.de). I go in, and sure enough, there is the world’s most amazing variety of mustards on display from fig and horseradish/dill to the most quintessential Frankfurter mustard imaginable, apfelwein, (made with the local apple wine that adds a touch of sweetness to its tang). I wander for an hour among the shelves laden with little jars, and I emerge with six, two for gifts and four for myself.

My Frankfurter senf selection joins the maple mustard I snagged in Vermont: isn’t that more interesting than maple syrup? Mustard is actually a great souvenir, as it lasts pretty much forever, and you don’t need to use much of it at any one sitting. Another product like this is jam, though I do tend to go through that more quickly (How much mustard can a person eat, after all?). Quince jam from the National Trust store in York, England is a much better memento than picture books of great houses! It sits next to the loganberry jelly I bought in the Hötorgshallen (Hötorget, Stockholm, Sweden. www.hotorgshallen.se) in Stockholm, a wonderful indoor market where you can have a great meal or wander through the food stalls. An even greater Hötorgshallen purchase: cloudberry jam. It’s pale yellow in color and tastes like slightly tart raspberries. These elusive little berries, with a harvest season of about three seconds, are highly prized, and it’s the crowning glory to the jam assortment, a little bit of Sweden every time I sample it (which I do often) so it doesn’t really last too long. That’s the price, I suppose, of being so amazing.

I look from my refrigerator with its mustard and jam collections (the two have combined for many a nice marinade) to my counter, where another one of my favorite tastes of the world resides: my salt collection. I know I’m not supposed to be using a lot of salt, and honestly I don’t, but it has become my absolute favorite thing to buy when traveling: it’s lightweight, it’s small, it lasts an eternity, and it comes in so many varieties. I currently have over a dozen from which to choose a sprinkle for any given dish. It all began on the Isle of Anglesey, in Wales, where the amazing sea salt of Halen Môn (Brynsiencyn, Isle of Anglesey, Wales, UK. Tel: 011-44-1248-430871. www.halenmon.com) is harvested from the local waters. I bring home three varieties (regular, smoked, and seasoned) as well as about a thousand mini-packs to give to friends and family. It begins a worldwide adventure into a saline hobby that’s as much fun as it is delicious. In Vienna, I pick up Kaisersalz (salt of the emperor) that’s flecked with dots of black truffles. In the General Store in Paso Robles, California (841 12th St., Paso Robles, CA. Tel: 1-805-226-5757. www.generalstorepr.com), I add espresso salt (yes!) to the collection.

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